first welder?

What about the everlast 160 sth
It's stick/tig and has the HF start
Ive never done welding but I think it will be plenty for starting and it's relatively cheap, read a lot of good reviews about it? Any thoughts ? Thanks again

 

If you have a lot of money to spend, I would get a Miller maxstar 200 inverter machine but they are almost 3K brand new but it is the best stick welder i've ever used. If your looking for a cheap and decent welder I would choose this one:

Hobart 500421 Stickmate LX 235 AC Stick (SMAW) Arc Welding Power Source

http://www.amazon.com/Hobart-500421-Stickmate-Welding-Source/dp/B00004WHGH

 

Stick isn the first kind of welding I would suggest someone to learn with. I would push them towards a mig to understand the fundamentals of creating and manipulating the puddle as well as laying consistent beads.

 

I learned stick first and almost every other welder i know started on stick also. But it does make sense to start on MIG because its pretty simple to do unlike stick welding because stick can be pretty challenging at times.

 

I know guys that refuse to stick but can lay a roll of fucking nickels like its nobody biz with a tig. I learned with a mig on a rusted ass pool fences but went right to 7018 rod after that.

 

Stick so far is my favorite process to do but I haven't done much TIG and when I did it looked like shit.

 

I love TIG but gotdamned is it time consuming.

 

I think a lot of people would like to be able to weld with any technique, but over the years as i have learned and taught over people it is important to try and learn one type first.

I say this b/c each type (MIG, TIG and ARC) has its own characteristics. You should learn how to manipulate the weld puddle and how different thickness of material and heat settings effect the metal.

Perhaps a better questions is this: Do you want to learn to be a welder and do everything or are you trying to learn how to say, weld some rock sliders?

You can use any technique more or less to build anything, but cost and preferred welding technique are important considerations.

A lot of people learned ARC welding as it has been around forever, requires no shielding gas and can be the cheapest to get into. Nothing wrong with it.

MIG is easy as the machine "feeds" the filler wire.

TIG IMO is the most precise and requires greater skill. both hands are being used and your foot. It is cleaner and can be stronger with less heat distribution.

I prefer to TIG as it creates less smoke, is cleaner and there is no slag. However, when welding say rock sliders onto the frame i will MIG as it is easier to manipulate the torch in that area.

it all depends on what you are welding. Consider what you want to do and pick the best machine to achieve that goal

 

$790 Hobart 500559 Handler 140 MIG Welder 115V

http://www.amazon.com/Hobart-500559...F38/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1



http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200471413_200471413


great welder. friend is a fabricator, been welding his whole life... set it up for me. great way to go. not sure about pricing... at the time I bought it the price was competitive (may have been on sale).

 

I am planning on buying a welder but I only have access to 120v. I wanted the lincoln 180 but that comes in 220v only right? Would the lincoln 140 mig be good enough to weld 3/16" plate?

 

Plenty hot enough as long as you have a decent amperage on that plug. 20-30 amp would be sufficient.

 

I wanted to jump in on this tread as the guy who 15 years ago was where the beginners are now. You can read my story below, but here is my advise as a former beginner: buy a 110 volt, gas/flux core, Lincoln/Miller/Hobart mig welder. YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY. Every home handyman should have a 110 volt welder because it will do 90% of what needs to be done. (and because it is 110 it can be used anywhere) And, don't skimp on the tool. IMHO its better to cry once about the price than to cry every time you use the tool. Once you have a welder it will get used more often than you think it might.

About learning to weld, its not that hard with a mig. I tell my non-welding friends its like a hot glue gun that uses a steel wire for glue. Watch youtube, practice on scrap and before you know it you'll be making strong welds on 1/4" steel with multiple passes.

Beginners advice for regarding 220 volt, stick, TIG and other confusions. After years of welding as a home handyman I can tell you to read what others say but buy the MIG. There are times I'd love a big 220 volt MIG, usually after the 3rd or 4th pass on that 1/4" plate. And a TIG on body panels, oh it would be nice. But my tool budget is limited so the little 110 volt Miller is what I use. (besides I'm lusting after a plasma cutter )

My story:
A bud had spent $1,200 on a bumper for his rig. Being a handy sort I looked real closely at what he had bought and thought "that's not too complex, I can do it myself." I didn't know a thing about welding, but I've never let ignorance stop me from doing something. (that's had good and bad consequences BTW ) And, given the choice between buying something or buying the tools to build it, I go with buying tools 8 times out of 10.

So, with a budget of $1,200 I set out to build my own bumper. I cruised the internet and back then the advise was the same as now, buy a good Lincoln/Miller/Hobart mig welder. I found a welding supply house with a friendly guy behind the counter that knew what he was talking about and threw myself on his mercy. He set me up with all the stuff you need to weld, which believe me is more than just the machine. I bought the equivalent of the Millermatic 140. A good solid little 110 volt welder with the ability to do gas and flux core welding. After I bought a Harbor Freight band saw, some files, a grinder and some steel for the bumper my total out of pocket was just around $1,200.

Long story short, the bumper turned out 10 times better than my bud's. It survived years of abuse on the rocks, my bud's bumper, not so much. Years later when I wanted to build an improved version, the first bumper sold for enough to buy all the steel for its replacement.

15 years later the Miller welder is still going strong. It has built/repaired more things than I can remember. The Harbor Freight band saw was a complete pile of poo. But, the Harbor Freight auto darkening welding mask works great and was a fraction of the pro models. (I know I said don't buy harbor freight, but do as I say, not as I do )

 

Thanks for the info bro!! ^^

I'm not genna lie 500$ price tag is hard to say yes too

 

500? Lincoln 140c is 660. You can search for them on the list, should be able to get a nice one for cheap. However, you will not get the 3 year warranty.

 

Oh, $500 is just the beginning. Here's my list of tools that I use every time I weld. (the ones in red are a must)

• An angle grinder. You will have to have one of these. For every minute of welding this thing runs for at least 20. I have 2, one with a cutoff wheel and one with a flap wheel for removing mill scale, rust, and contouring thick pieces. I lived with one for quite a while by changing the wheels as needed. Mine are Harbor Freight and other than being noisy and vibrating obnoxiously do the job.
• Metal files for when the grinder won't fit. I only have 3 or 4 in different shapes.
• A welding mask. I started with an old school flip down mask. Don't bother, buy an auto darkening mask. I picked this one up from HF on sale for $50. The kids use the old one for Halloween now.
• Lens covers for your welding mask.
• A couple of these magnets to hold things square.
• Clamps to hold things. Some guys might be able to hold the piece, and the MIG torch and get the weld started without messing up, but I'm not one of them. I have to clamp the pieces where I need them. Most of my clamps have plastic ends so they have to be removed after starting to keep from melting them. I do have one metal clamp for welding. The plastic ones are more useful for other things so I put up with having to remove them.
• MIG welding pliers. Use them for cutting the little ball off the MIG wire, the square tips remove slag from the tip, and the round griper helps unscrew the tips below.
• Spare welding tips. You will melt them from time to time and you need different sizes depending on the wire you are using.
• Different gauge welding wire. Depending on what you are doing you will need different thicknesses.
• Soap stone markers. They leave a heat resistant white line that you can see while welding. What no one tells you is when you are welding the only thing you can see is the arc. I can barely see the soap stone line.
• A gas cylinder. I rent mine from the welding supply place, but they want a deposit up front. I started with a small one like this, but quickly upgraded to the bigger size. (without this you have to run flux core wire. Personally I don't like it because it spits and splatters more than using plain wire with gas. That said I use it when welding fences in the wind.)
• A welding cart. My little Miller weighs 60#, the bottle 30# and they are never close to where I want to weld. A lot of guys make their cart as the first project, buy it or build it you will want one.
• Welding gloves. You are melting steel with electricity and creating huge amounts of heat and radiation (damn that's cool) and your hands are only inches from all of this.
• Welding sleeves or long sleeve shirt. You will burn holes in your clothing. If you don't protect bare skin you will get the nastiest sun burn you've ever had.
• A tool box. I like to keep all the welding tools in the same place. Mine has separate compartments for the welding tips which is really nice.
• A way to cut metal. Depending on the project this is the hardest part for me. The HF band saw I had would never cut a straight line through anything. I fussed with that thing for hours and hours and hours. Finally the motor burned up and I gave it way. Now I use my jig saw and a cut off wheel. Maybe some day I'll get a plasma cutter.

Depending on what you already have these "extras" are going to add about $150 to $300 + dollars to your budget. And you've haven't bought your first piece of steel yet, be prepared for sticker shock, especially if you go to the big box stores. I buy mine from dedicated metal shops, and it's still expensive.


Over the years my welder has paid for itself many times over. My last project looked like this:


The complete cost was a fraction of a comparable one off the shelf. Off the shelf wouldn't have the cool touches like the spider web, or the satisfaction of being better and cheaper than your buds. Getting started with welding ain't cheap, but over time you will have cooler, better stuff than anyone else

 

Jacob, here's a pretty good local deal. The duty cycle is pretty low but not a bad little welder. Ask him if he has an extra bottle laying around too.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=28253498&cat=&lpid=0&search=hobart welder&ad_cid=2

 

Thanks for the link!! I just sent him a text ill see what he says, can that 120 use gas As well as flux core? Edit it does use gas or flux core and he sayshe inverted a c02 tank to run on praxair, is this good?

 

Great wright up jsi! I got about half that stuff.. Will need to pick a lot of that up though haha..

 

If he gives you the tank, take it. When you go to fill it up at Praxair with C25 they will let you know if its good to go or not. If not, I believe they rent them.

 

This makes no sense as tanks don't change between CO2, argon, C25, etc. etc. The fittings only change. With that said you should be able to swap for C25. If you buy a tank, it is cheaper then renting in the long run.